Boyfriend indicted on manslaughter

GOSHEN — The boyfriend of a Salisbury Mills woman who died when a gun the two of them were handling was inadvertently fired has been indicted on a single count of second-degree manslaughter.

HEATHER YAKIN

GOSHEN — The boyfriend of a Salisbury Mills woman who died when a gun the two of them were handling was inadvertently fired has been indicted on a single count of second-degree manslaughter.

Christian Benson, 26, who was the live-in boyfriend of Kristi Babcock, 30, was arraigned Thursday in Orange County Court before Judge Robert Freehill. Benson appeared with his lawyers, Benjamin Ostrer and Joseph Artrip, and they entered a "not guilty" plea on his behalf.

The indictment represents the first charge filed in the case. Prosecutors did not request that the judge set bail, and the judge released him on his own recognizance, although he must report to a pretrial release program through probation.

The shooting happened Aug. 16 as one of the couple handed the handgun, legally owned and registered by Benson, to the other. The manslaughter charge alleges reckless conduct, not intentional. At the time of the shooting, state police said it appeared that Babcock was holding the gun.

Babcock was a well-liked 13-year employee of the New Windsor Recreation Department, and after her death on Aug. 16, the town renamed the Mt. Airy Sports Complex as the Kristi Babcock Memorial Park.

After the arraignment, Babcock's mother and Benson's mother were observed crying and hugging in the courthouse hallway.

Benson and Artrip went from the courthouse to the New York State Police barracks in Montgomery so troopers could process Benson's arrest. He returns to court on May 29.